We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Taqwa Hasan. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Taqwa below.

Alright, Taqwa thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I knew I wanted to pursue a career as a creative at a very young age. I was always watching.BBC fashion shows and events and loved flipping through magazines looking at editorial shoots. I was heavily into the arts. I used to attend the YWCA where I can remember taking Art classes, and doing tons of coloring paper Mache , and collages as a child.

Taqwa, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Taqwa Hasan and I’m a Michigan native. I’m the CEO of Destination Black Box. I make unique handcrafted, resort, jewelry, and accessories for the Eclectic women. I started my business in 2019 before that I pursued a fashion merchandising degree from Wayne State University and completed it in 2006. Since then I have been dabbling with a couple of fashion mind, including a boys line that I started, as well as a little girls line. As a child, I grew up in a very diverse environment. I went to a Muslim school that was populated by many different cultures. There I developed a love for seeing the beauty of different cultures , and I draw my inspiration for my designs heavily on traveling and seeing different culture aesthetics, fabrics and styles. I also have always loved being outside, so I have a love for nature. That’ is also what influenced my brand to be a Resort accessories brand. My accessories predominately consist of beads fabric, cork leather, brass, and wire. I currently design necklaces, bracelets earrings in ObiBelts, with hopes of having a resort wear are line in the future, as well as going into the home sector. I provide one of a kind statement pieces to those women who want unique eclectic chic items, and who want to feel beautiful and unique throughout their every day lives. My line is not only for those who are going on vacation or to resort, but it’s also to provide one-of-a-kind pieces in their every day life so that way they can create a resort like environment around themselves. One thing that I believe sets me apart from others is the ability to mix different fabrics and aesthetics to make one-of-a-kind prints and also incorporate fabric pieces in my accessories where normally other materials would have been used. For jewelry.Also the ability to pull from different aesthetics from various cultures to create very unique pieces.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

My first time vending at the All Things , Detroit Holiday marketplace was definitely an experience. It was probably one of the larger events that I have ever participated as a vendor in. Normally, for my orders, I make them as they come in because it cuts down on waste and just time and energy. So when I have to actually vend and fill my table up, it takes me a good amount of weeks to work on products because the design process takes so long. Sometimes I can spend two or three days just trying to figure out one design. So even though I started preparing a month earlier, the weeks went by and I still found myself trying to create pieces up until the very last day. The night before I was up all night trying to get products done I didn’t sleep at all and then I didn’t even have a chance to check the email memo about bringing your own chair .And I just remember getting to the place, setting up and having to stand the whole event because I didn’t bring a chair, and I was totally exhausted and sleep deprived. It was so many times throughout that experience that I really just wanted to give up, but I just pushed through and ended up following through with the event. There were so many excuses that I was giving myself to just give up and not attend it and I was willing to just take the vending fee as a loss. Even though I didn’t do as well as I hoped I definitely got some exposure and I was so proud of myself that I pushed through and got the experience and, of course, I learned some valuable lessons from the whole experience

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

First My mission for doing what I do is to be able to provide accessories for women to uplift their spirit, and inspire them to feel beautiful and unique wherever they are whether on a resort or simply just in their everyday lives. I want to create a sense of serenity and peace with my accessories where they’ll always be surrounded by a resort like vibe. Outside of this my main mission is s to be in a position financially where I can help my family and others. Not sure if this sounds cliché, but it is totally true. I really want to use my craft as a way for me to get in a better financial position to give and support others. I believe it’s such a blessing to be able to find something that you love doing and be able to make money from it. Not all people have this opportunity or find their passion/gift during their lifetime . At the end of the day we will all pass away at some point and many of the things we collect Accessories , etc. wont be of benefit to us when this happens , so I strive to put myself in a position to do the best that I can to help others while I’m here. I definitely would love to be able to Pay It Forward to many different causes and people that cross my path.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.theblackboxcollection.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/destinationblackbox